szkocjasid

It's a really good top end. Harris is awesome, Dan T always improving, Howarth should do far better if moving to 3, which means Flint is a second string. Boughen is very inconsistent, which is to be expected from a 17 year old, but obviously has the most potential of any young Brit alongside Cairns. Which is where the league will be won or lost imo. If Glasgow drop their weakest reserve for Cairns, they should win the league, I'd say the same for Poole, Workington etc. I do think Glasgow are weak at reserve, but the top 5 may be able to cover for them.

Pearson & Smith would be far stronger at home imo

It's a good thing if they are pushing up to 4 point averages but stay at reserve so their scoring doesn't suffer, for example Luke Harrison compared to Sam Hagon. It's not a good thing if they both stay under the minimum 2.00 average, as Glasgow will be very weak at the bottom end. I personally don't see a lot of improvement in them. Whoever is at 6 I think will really struggle. Hodder at 7 would be a decent signing, easier position than last year, so would expect him to put a point on his ave, if that leaves Spencer / Perry at 6, I'd expect them to score like McGurk this year. Depends how often Cami swaps the reserve rides round obviously.

If there's only enough riders (willing to race in GB) to fill SIX teams at a 40 point limit, then how can that be the points limit for a SEVEN team league? I guess if the other 6 teams vote for a 40 point limit not much Brummies can do about it. If there was a 39 point limit, freeing up riders for Birmingham, they league would have the same riders in it, they'd just be spread out more evenly rather than some clubs having more heat leaders than others. At the end of the day, you'd still get some strong looking teams with a 39 limit, someone still has to win the league, this doesn't make it harder for anyone, just more equal for everyone. Very disappointed with every Prem club for only looking out for themselves, which is their right (for short term gain) but may be regretted in the future when they have less opponents to race. I also believe Birmingham should have been allowed to compete in the Champ on a Monday. With so few fixtures, just avoid signing Belle Vue riders & arrange fixtures to avoid needing guests depending on the Monday Premiership fixtures.

Surely they can't announce the final rider before the AGM?

I don't think it can be, even owning a riders contact couldn't be enforced if it went to a court hearing etc. but have previously heard clubs getting warnings for "tapping up" riders, so assume there's some "rule" in place?

There's one rule I'm unsure on, I always thought once a rider averaged above 3.00 they can't drop back down below it. This has been seen with the likes of Adam Roynon averaging below 3 but having a 3 average. But I did see Kyle Bickley drop below 3 when he shouldn't have. So either the rules have changed, or they've forgotten them, or made mistakes, or ignore them when including British reductions, I'm not sure tbh Charles Wright 8.37 Erik Riss 8.33 Danny King 7.88 Jason Edwards 6.18 Jake Mulford 4.27 Ace Pijper 3.00 Tom Spencer 2.00 Total 40.03

Well don't look at @Redtruck team, even weaker at the bottom end lol!

So Riss & Pijper vs Vissing & Ablitt, who would score more combined?

The World Speedway Riders Association have named Peter Schroeck their team manager of the year! I can't disagree with their summary of his season: Having managed Oxford’s teams for all 66 fixtures across the 3 levels of British Speedway, the German has shown the greatest commitment in 2024! But being in charge of the most meetings doesn't make him the best manager! I've never suggested he doesn't work hard, but he's one of the worst "tactical" managers I've ever seen.

Tbh if the other clubs are doing nothing to help Birmingham & even raiding their top riders, I wonder should Birmingham pull out of the league? Hope Tolley doesn't let his heart rule his head & go bankrupt. While it's not the job of others clubs to keep Birmingham competitive, surely they know there's a very good chance it'll soon be a 6 team Premiership, is that what they want? Re Brennan if a club doesn't want to use their own asset isn't his current team supposed to have "first refusal" on him?

Think yourselves lucky, having Doyle & Sayfutdinov - yet worrying about a third heat leader. Birmingham fans could be facing a season with no heat leaders the way it's going! I know it's not the job of Ipswich, Sheffield, Belle Vue etc. to ensure Birmingham have a strong team. But when (rather than if) we end up with a 6 team Premiership, they better not complain about lack or variety of fixtures.

How about this team is it's a 40 limit? Charles Wright 8.37 Danny King 7.88 Claus Vissing 6.34 Jason Edwards 6.18 Nathan Ablitt 4.91 Jake Mulford 4.27 An Other 2.00 Total 39.95

Have Redcar themselves announced the signing of Mulford now? Even if the plan was to announce to the team at the Christmas party etc surely once it's been leaked, they may as well put it on their website / social media?

My top 20 riders (weighted averages) 1. Sam Hagon - 11.03 2. William Cairns - 10.60 3. Joe Thompson - 10.45 4. Luke Killeen - 9.89 5. Jake Mulford - 9.07 6. Ben Trigger - 8.94 7. Nathan Ablitt - 8.87 8. Jody Scott - 8.64 9. Connor Coles / Jason Garrad - 8.31 11. Max James - 8.14 12. Luke Harrison - 7.95 13. Dayle Wood - 7.90 14. Freddie Hodder - 7.87 15. Tom Spencer - 7.47 16. Max Perry - 7.04 17. Ace Pijper - 6.88 18. Vinnie Foord - 6.69 19. Ashton Vale - 6.37 20. Sonny Springer - 6.36

Cheers

I include guest performances. More matches included = more accurate stats (is the plan)

It could go either way. I'd expect Cook to improve as a rider, as he has done every season so far, which would normally up his average, but racing in a more tough position makes it harder. Let's say he's good enough to be an 8.00 rider at 4, that may translate to a 7.25 rider racing at 1? Anyway if King's Lynn have 6 riders within one point of each other, I doubt anyone would be at 1 or 6 all season, could change every month.

My top 20 riders (weighted averages) 1. Richard Lawson - 10.02 2. Sam Masters - 9.89 3. Josh Pickering - 9.80 4. Chris Harris - 9.65 5. Scott Nicholls - 9.37 6. Tom Brennan - 9.31 7. Charles Wright - 9.11 8. Ben Cook - 9.04 9. Erik Riss - 9.03 10. Craig Cook - 8.99 11. Troy Batchelor - 8.89 12. Rory Schlein - 8.31 13. Danny King - 8.19 14. Steve Worrall - 8.13 15. Michael P Toft - 8.02 16. Dan Thompson - 7.95 17. Kyle Howarth / Anders Rowe - 7.86 19. Jake Allen - 7.80 20. Justin Sedgmen - 7.67

My top 21 riders (weighted averages) 1. Jason Doyle - 9.95 2. Emil Sayfutdinov - 9.63 3. Tai Woffinden - 9.52 4. Jack Holder - 9.39 5. Max Fricke - 9.33 6. Brady Kurtz - 9.16 7. Freddie Lindgren - 8.91 8. Chris Holder / Dan Bewley - 8.90 10. Scott Nicholls - 8.26 11. Rohan Tungate - 8.08 12. Maciej Janowski - 7.81 13. Ryan Douglas - 7.79 14. Sam Masters - 7.71 15. Richard Lawson - 7.59 16. Ben Cook - 7.51 17. Tom Brennan - 7.30 18. Niels K Iversen - 7.25 19. Josh Pickering - 7.24 20. Luke Becker / Charles Wright - 7.13

No-one would deny that. But Leicester have to drop points from the 2024 side. They wouldn't choose Howarth for Lawson because they think it's strengthening up.

Would teams need to race on an alternate race day though? 16 home matches, 6 away Fridays (Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scunthorpe) is 22 Fridays. There's 27 Fridays between April & September. Race play-offs in October (no koc). Still leaves 4 spare Fridays for rain-offs (one used for best pairs). Worst case scenario would have to race an occasional alternate race day?

Until the rules are decided at the AGM, any plans could change. So clubs can have a planned 1-7 but doesn't mean they'll get it. I don't know why so many people suggest Birmingham could go under mid-season? Tolley has lost money each year, but still completes the season & I don't hear of riders not being paid (which you do at other clubs). Rather than Morris changing rules, for me it would be better if Birmingham said, we can't compete under a 40 points limit, so the rest of the clubs have to choose, do they want a 7 team league (39 limit) or a 6 team league (40 limit). Then go with the majority vote at the AGM! For Ipswich if their current 1-7 fits under 39, they'd be massive favourites for the league.

But that team would have a very strong top 3/4

I find that hard to believe for 2 reasons: 1) does that mean Lynn are paying for Harris' mechanic? Most people on the forum say Buster doesn't like paying much 2) what was the team plan when they wanted Harris? Did they have to go back to Woffinden or Pickering & say "actually Harris is too expensive for us, we want you after all"?